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2nd Lapta Belediyesi Cycle Tour

News has been received that the Lapta Belediyesi have organised a second cycle tour which is to be held on Sunday 18th November and this time it will be in the Çamlibel area.

The meeting point will be at the Akcan Cycle Shop in Alsancak at 09.00 and departure will be from there at 09.30 by way of minibuses for participants and their bicycles and return, free of charge.The cycle tour will then start from Çamlibel – Tepebaşi – Koruçam.

As before, bicycles will be available for rent from the Akcan Cycle Shop at 15TL per cycle.

There will be a meal available at the Yorgo Restaurant in Koruçam at 30TL per person and this will consist of Lamb Kleftiko (½ kilo), potatoes, yoghurt, salad and a soft drink.

If you need to rent a bicycle and/or have a meal, please book before 16th November.Entry for the cycle tour is free and everyone is welcome but children under the age of 15 years must be accompanied by an adult.

For more details contactBerke Ertopaloğlu on 0533 834 9878

This sounds as if it is going to be a lot of fun and for all those cycling enthusiasts a great day out so don’t delay and book your place as soon as you can.

PICK OF THE WEEK

To make the task of choice and search selection simple, we include every week an article entitled “Pick of the Week” which has a listing of all articles for that week. These articles are filed under the “Pick of the Week” menu tab.

Do have fun finding your choice of article to read by also clicking on the other category menu tabs.

If you wish to leave a comment about an article, click on the Comment link or just click the Like button at the bottom of the article you are reading, to show you have read the article. We have now included a RatingButton on our articles so readers can tell us what they like most of all. Thank you all, for your continued support.

LATEST NEWS : For your continued enjoyment we now have a BRT link on the right of this page which will enable you to select both Radio and TV channels from Bayrak Radio and Television and in addition you may read all about BRT by selecting articles shown by clicking on the BRT menu tab above.

We have also now included a Video menu tab under which you may watch videos and read the articles that contained them.

That was the TRNC week that was!

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30th OCTOBER 2012

PRESIDENT EROĞLU: “WE WANTED TO END THE NEGOTIATIONS PROCESS WITH A CALENDAR AFTER THE ELECTIONS IN SOUTH CYPRUS”

President Derviş Eroğlu indicated that they wanted to end the negotiations process with a calendar just after the elections in February in South Cyprus. President Eroğlu added: “We want support from all our friends and from all those who want an agreement otherwise everyone should go their own way and that we should not be obstructed.”

Expressing that UN, EU and all countries related to Cyprus should put forward the realities in front of the Greek Cypriots if they want an agreement in Cyprus Eroğlu said: “they should tell the Greek Cypriots that they should not continue to impose unjust embargoes on the Turkish Cypriots and that our sport teams and youngsters have the right to play football with the other teams in the world.”

Adding that there has been no subject that has not been yet discussed in the Cyprus problem since 1968, Eroğlu said that an agreement could be reached if the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo had a sincere wish and political will. Eroğlu also said that there was no reason for a disagreement if their intention was not to drag Turkish Cypriots to the pre 1974 period and abolish the full and effective guarantee of motherland Turkey.

31st OCTOBER 2012

ERDOGAN: “THERE IS NOT A COUNTRY CALLED ‘CYPRUS’ IN THE WORLD

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that in his visit to Germany that Germany has accepted that they made a mistake by taking south Cyprus into the EU however they insist on the mistake.

Erdogan answered the questions of the participants after his speech at the ‘Europe Further the Crisis’ meeting of the Nicholas Berggruen Institute.

Erdogan recorded the following: “there are divided countries and countries that have political conflicts in the EU Acquis. Divided countries cannot be accepted to the EU. For example a country called ‘Cyprus’ is referred to in the EU. There is not a country called ‘Cyprus’ in the world. There is Greek Cypriot Administration of South Cyprus. There is North Cyprus and there is Green Line in between.

Now the EU countries don’t see this Green Line. What they do they say? They say Cyprus. How can this happen? Is there a relationship with South and North Cyprus? Not at all. North Cyprus is completely separate and the EU and others recognize South Cyprus.

Now the EU Term President is South Cyprus. Negotiations have been interrupted now since we don’t recognize them. There shall be no negotiation until the end of this period. This is against the EU Acquis. Mrs. Merkel said: “we made a mistake by taking South Cyprus in the EU.” But there is insistence on this mistake. Şansöyle Schröder wrote about the injustice towards Turkey during that period.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA

It was reported that Greek politicians’ initiatives to develop the relations between South Cyprus and Russia have gained speed. Greek Cypriot Presidential candidate Yorgos Lillikas expressed during his last contact in Moscow that strategic partnership should be established with Russia. It was also stressed that AKEL Secretary General Andros Kiprianu has been continuing his contacts on this issue.

According to the headline of Greek Cypriot daily Simerini ‘Strategic Partnership Relations with Russia’, Lillikas arranged a press meeting and gave information about the round table meeting that he participated in Moscow. Lillikas also said that it was time for developing relations between South Cyprus and Russia.

Moreover, adding that Russian authorities showed great interest especially in the ’Exclusive Economical Zone of South Cyprus, Lillikas said that Russia called the Greek Cypriot side to express their interest for hydrocarbon during the negotiations with Troika.

1st NOVEMBER 2012

APPROVAL OF 2013 BUDGET

Council of Ministers of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus approved the budget of 3,421,632,028. TL for the year 2013. TRNC Prime Minister led the meeting of Council of Ministers and after being approved the budget was sent to General Assembly of TRNC.

The Finance Minister Ersin Tatar stated that they anticipated % 5 increases in the income for the 2013 budget and this shows that stability was achieved. Tatar also underlined that there is decrease in the deficiency of the budget comparing with 2012 and he thanked the Turkish Republic who contributed the TRNC 2013 budget with 1 billion Turkish Liras.

GERMAN MINISTER DROPS A BOMBSHELL

Schaeuble doesn’t expect concrete negotiations with Cyprus until 2013

GERMAN Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on 31st October that he did not expect concrete negotiations between Cyprus and international lenders to start before 2013, suggesting that the island has missed a November 12 deadline and could be at risk of running out of money before the end of the year.

Speaking at a news conference in Berlin after a telephone conference with his euro-zone counterparts, Schaeuble said there had not yet been any concrete negotiations with Cyprus on financial assistance and he did not expect them to commence until 2013.

The unexpected comment flies in the face of everything the government has been stating publicly about the extent of progress in the negotiations and the expected return of the troika. (The Greek Cypriot Daily Cyprus Mail)

MIGRATION OF FOREIGN PEOPLE CHANGES DEMOGRAPHIC STRUCTURE OF GREEK CYPRIOT COMMUNITY

It has been reported that the demographic structure of the Greek Cypriot community is changing because of the migration of many foreign people.

According to the news of Greek Cypriot daily Fileleftheros, Greek Cypriot Statistical Department has announced the data obtained from the last population census conducted in 2011.

Giving reference to this data, the newspaper stated that rate of fertility (Births) in South Cyprus decreases, average life expectancy increases, population growth in a year is 2.6% however the reason of this is foreign migration.

The newspaper also pointed out that natural rate of increase of Greek Cypriot population is 4. 9 per thousand. The newspaper comparatively reflected the figures concerning the rate of increase of the population during 1990-2011 and published a table including the data concerning the demography.

2nd NOVEMBER 2012

EROĞLU: “I SAT AT THE NEGOTIATION TABLE FOR AN AGREEMENT”

TRNC President Dr. Derviş Eroğlu stated that he sat at the negotiation table with the intention of an agreement and he has put forth his determination in the proposals he submitted.

The President has accepted the members of Cyprus Academic Dialogue composed of Turkish and Greek Cypriots academicians. Dr. Derviş Eroğlu made a speech during the meeting and stated that he sat at the negotiation table with the intention of an agreement like the former President and added that he has put forth his determination with a letter he sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

Stating that he discussed other topics except the guarantees, Eroğlu pointed out that he suggested a summit to Ban in order to explain the intention on agreement of the Turkish Cypriot side and they realized 5 summits.

Eroğlu said “from the first summit, Secretary General defended the opinion of ‘if you can agree till the end of June, you can agree’. Secretary General has transparently put forth that an agreement would not be possible after the Greek Cypriot side became EU term-president”.

Eroğlu expressed that Turkish Cypriot side always suggested proposals with the idea of an agreement till the end of June however Greek Cypriot side came to the last summit with the ‘4 no’ of the National Council and therefore the desired result could not be achieved.

STATEMENTS OF ERDOGAN SATISFIED EU

It was reported that statements of the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan regarding Turkey’s EU membership which proved his commitment for EU membership satisfied the EU.

Spokesman of EU Commissioner Responsible for Enlargement Stefan Fule, Peter Stano said in his statement ‘We are very glad for hearing Erdogan’s commitment to abide by the EU membership’.

Moreover, it was said that Greek Cypriot side and France unilaterally prevented the opening of 10 chapters at Turkey’s accession negotiations.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN SOUTH CYPRUS IS 12.2 FOR SEPTEMBER

According to the Greek Cypriot Newspaper Politis the rate of unemployment is 12.2% in South Cyprus which means over 53 thousand people are unemployed. The newspaper noted that the rate of unemployment is moving towards dramatic numbers and some measures must be taken urgently.

On the other hand Filelefteros Newspaper underlined that the unemployment rate of South Cyprus is over the rate at the EU and Euro Zone and noted that unemployment rate at the EU is 10.6% and in the Euro Zone it is 11.6%

A Russian Musical Evening

Russians may celebrate Unity Day in many ways. Some may lay flowers to the monuments of national heroes, Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky, who led a popular uprising that freed Moscow from occupation forces on November 4, 1612 as shown below.

“Kuzma Minin and Count Dmitry Pozharsky – They came from two different worlds – Dmitry Pozharsky belonged to the aristocracy and Kuzma Minin reportedly was the son of a salt producer, but because of their achievements in Russia’s struggle for independence from the Poles, these two figures managed to go down in history – together.”

We recently had some news from our Russian friend, Sergey Eletskikh, about a feast day of National Unity in Russia which is celebrated on 4th November and is a holiday of love, aid, support and caring about others.For this reason Sergey and his brother, Alexander, who has returned to North Cyprus for another holiday, decided to arrange a musical evening at Made in USSR in Alsancak featuring a variety of musicians.

As we enjoyed the last musical evening arranged by Sergey so much, we didn’t want to miss this one so we went along on 3rd November to join with other people from the Russian community to enjoy an evening of traditional Russian music and song.

We arrived to find a large gathering of people listening to Sergey and Alexander who had already started their performance and we sat down with Marina, and Alexei and his wife, to enjoy the music.Part way through their singing, Sergey, in Russian, welcomed Chris and I so we were made to feel like part of the gathering which was such a nice gesture.

There followed a violin solo with one very haunting and one very rousing piece which was played by one of the Russian members of the audience and then came some folk songs sung by Svetlana Krupovich who came to North Cyprus 2 years ago and lives at Chelsey Village, Arapkoy.It is interesting to see most of the audience joining in with the words and although we cannot understand what the songs are about we can enjoy the music just the same.

At the last musical evening, we met Hasan, who is Turkish, and there he demonstrated his talent of Spanish type guitar music.He was again present at Made in USSR and took to the stage with another guitarist to give a brilliant performance which incorporated 2 songs in English, I think for our benefit as Sergey was smiling very broadly at me when this was happening so I gave him a “thumbs up” for his thoughtfulness.During this session a dancer appeared who gave an excellent performance of Russian gypsy dancing, very similar to Spanish Flamenco, and she was later accompanied by another dancer and they performed together to very resounding music.

Sergey and Alexander continued with more Russian songs, they sing so well together and really enjoy it.It is nice that these brothers can get together from time to time.I spoke for a while to Alexander who I met for the first time at the last musical event and he was very happy to tell me that he had met an English lady, Hayley, when he was here in August and she had since visited him in Moscow and he was hoping to spend Christmas with her in England.So maybe we should watch this space!!

The evening flowed with music from several musicians and it was nice to see some familiar faces from the Russian community who make you feel so welcome although we don’t speak the language, and this is how it should be – just people coming together to enjoy an evening of entertainment.

Halloween came to Bellapais Abbey

Sadly I was unable to go to Bellapais on the 27th October when there was a concert at Bellapais Abbey which hosted “A Halloween Happening” on the last day of Kurban Bayram to benefit the Lefkosa, Çocuk Yuvasi-Children’s Shelter.

International Opera Star, Grammy List Nominee and the Cyprus Turksoy Opera Days rep for 2012, Demet George Mustafaoğlu with Maestro Rauf Kasimov presented “Music From Around The World” with a costumed and staged concert for all the family.

This was reported to have been a highly successful and entertaining event and a total donation of 3.000 TL was raised for the refurbishment of the Lefkosa, Çocuk Yuvasi-Children’s Shelter and it is hoped further donations will be made and anybody wishing to help should call Hatice Sahil Kerimgil on (0090) 533 860 3630.

I understand that the Children in Need Foundation are also going to lend a helping hand with this important project and further information will be available soon and this is excellent news .

There is even more good news as I am also pleased to be able to include some pictures which have been shared from Facebook by Demetra George and Hatice Sahil Kerimgil which shows just how hard people work to help and improve the plight of others through these types of events and long may they continue with the support of you, our readers.

By Chris Elliott…….

Lunch time at the Olive Press

Life can be all work and no play if you let it, so for me it’s nice to spend a little time relaxing even if I turn my experiences into an interesting article for our readers’ enjoyment.

Recently I went to The Olive Press Lawn Green Bowling club in Lapta to join friends who meet regularly for lunch followed by a speaker. Last month we decided to change venue and learn more about the ancient art of Lawn Green Bowling.

After we had all arrived and had our refreshments we had a very interesting talk given by Sam Stevenson who was the past President of the Kelvindale Bowling Club in Glasgow about the ancient art of Lawn Green Bowling which was both humorous and enthralling.

Sam explained that bowls, which was known to be a game of the Romans, was developing in the UK but during the 13th century in England the game was banned as it was in France as it was affecting the necessary practice of archery. In Scotland the game carried on regardless and over the centuries lawn green bowling which includes the variants of flat green bowling and crown green bowling developed into the game we know today.

He said that sadly in Scotland as in England the game is not so popular as it was but continues with a very mixed age group facing up to each other on the green. It is a gentlemen’s game played by gentlemen with many women also now playing and proving their mettle.

Australia is another country where the game is very popular and Sam said there is a lot of fresh activity around the world to promote the sport and he hopes that one day we will see teams from the TRNC playing against the best in the world.

Now was the time for all of us to try our hand with a game supervised by Sam and co owners Martin Appleton and John Isles and they explained that all bowls or woods have a different bias and are supplied in matched sets so in a game everyone has a set of bowls with their own characteristics which must be managed as our group soon discovered.

With most of our group trying their hand at the game, it was fascinating to see those that had played before, but of those that had not, just how quickly they started to master the run of the bowl in its length and turn of the bias to reach the jack bowl. To make the task even more enjoyable Martin set up a target at the end of the green and it was great to see how individuals performed.

Tired but happy we all retired to the restaurant and had the lunch we had chosen before giving our thanks to Sam and of course the owners Martin, John, Ann and Louise and their staff at the Olive Press for making our visit so enjoyable.

For those local readers that would like to try their hand at flat green bowling, you can have a free lesson and can read more of this on the Olive Press web site – Click here.

For me, the visit was most enjoyable and reminded me of my first visit to the club when it was getting ready to open and I wrote an article which I will republish on these pages soon as it shows just how, through hard work, a business can be started and become successful and in this case, bring so much enjoyment to so many people.

New Karakum Headquarters for RBL

I called in at the Courtyard Inn Restaurant, Karakum recently and was delighted to see that a lot of hard work had been put in by the Royal British Legion, Kyrenia Branch members to make this venue their new headquarters.

The Courtyard Inn was originally an old colonial house and was converted into an “olde worlde” restaurant and bar some 30 years ago.It lies back from the main road and is set amongst trees and gardens with plenty of parking space.

Inside you find that almost country pub and restaurant feel with our host “MO” and his friendly staff making everyone welcome and ensuring that they want for nothing.

RBL members have been busy bringing all of their pennants, flags, plaques and dressings to place them in a building that just befits the image and values that the Royal British Legion stands for. I have no doubt that either for RBL functions or as a great place to spend time, we will see plenty more visitors visiting this piece of yesteryear with its overhanging trees which brings a quiet air of peace and tranquillity into the world in which we live.

With Poppy Day fast approaching this place will soon resonate with the lifeblood of RBL and latest reports from RBL is that their membership are delighted with the location of the new headquarters.